Fairer Business Rates for All
London’s West End is facing a major challenge – a proposed business rates hike of up to 20% that could stifle investment, impact jobs, and hurt our world-renowned retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses.
From April 2026, new higher business rates for all businesses with a rateable property value of over £500,000 will be introduced.
Backed by our latest research, undertaken by local government finance experts, HOLBA are urging the Government to rethink this unfair tax increase before the 2025 Autumn Budget and consider our alternative ‘Combined Business Rate‘ solution. This would introduce a new digital business rate element generating an estimated £6 billion and cutting existing business rates by up to 37%.
What does it mean?
Estimated increase for businesses with an RV of over £500k (%)
20%
No. of businesses likely to be affected in Westminster (many of which are in retail, hospitality and leisure sectors)
2,000
UK businesses that would bear the estimated £2.2 billion business rate hike, with 44% of them based in London
0.8%
Businesses that invest in our cities and communities should not be penalised.
What you can do:
- Download and read our consultation response
- Read our impact assessment and alternative solution
- To be part of the campaign, contact our Head of Public Affairs, Antonia Stratford on antonia@holba.london.
Ros Morgan, Chief Executive, HOLBA:
Many of our members who will be affected by this tax rise are retail, hospitality and leisure businesses – the majority of whom are currently operating on wafer thin margins. The cumulative impact of these cost rises is already stifling investment, employment and growth which could be very damaging in the long term for our area of the West End that is worth over £10 billion annually to the UK’s economy.
